“The Kingdom is underlining the importance of the forum and stressing the commitment to developing the strategic relationship with the other countries on the African continent,” said the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CSCCI) in a statement.
The CSCCI will organize the forum along with the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, a privately funded, non-partisan think tank.
The forum will discuss various investment opportunities, including relevant strategies required to turn initial plans into more concrete actions.
It will also discuss opportunities in areas such as agriculture, minerals and natural resources, energy, telecommunications and infrastructure as well as tourism and trade development.
The forum will also discuss bilateral ties between the GCC and the African countries which have been the recipient of aid from the latter. During the Gulf Africa Strategy Forum in Cape Town in February 2009, the GCC states committed $5.8 million to their African counterparts.
“The Gulf-Africa Forum is a unique gathering that will add substance to much of the present rhetoric about GCC-Africa ties,” the CSCCI statement said.
The forum will bring together key leaders and personalities from government, business, academics and mediapersons to outline the issues and challenges facing more constructive economic and business-to-business relations between the key regions in Africa and the Gulf.
Participants from the Kingdom to address the forum include Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal, Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza, GCC Secretary-General Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) President Ahmed Mohammad Ali, Director of Economic Integration Department of the GCC Abdulaziz Hamad Aliwaisheq, Gulf Center Chairman Abdulaziz Sager, and Saudi Fransi Bank chief economist John Sfakianakis.
Other speakers include Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya, Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi, Director of Gulf Research Center at University of Cambridge Abdullah Baabood, Senegalese poet Baba Dioum, Director of International Studies at Gulf Research Center in Dubai Christian Koch, and Joseph Adelegan, founder of Global Network for Environment and Economic Development Research, among others.
